2025 Lucid Gravity First Drive: Goes Over 400 Miles and Feels Awesome Doing So
Lucid’s first SUV seems like a worthy sequel to the Air sedan—but will it sell?
To say the 2025 Lucid Gravity must outdo the Air would be a drastic understatement. This new luxury electric SUV needs to advance from its excellent yet idiosyncratic sedan forebear, and more importantly sell enough to support its struggling maker. Lucid has long needed an SUV, but didn’t hastily cobble one together just to get something on the market. Our first sample of the Gravity indicates the wait will be worth it for drivers—but for Lucid?
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Not Just an Air SUV
Top brass at Lucid told us that the Gravity was a more difficult undertaking than the Air—as if making what might be the world’s best electric sedan wasn’t hard enough. We can respect the team’s challenge in creating a vehicle that shows a lineage to its predecessor while expanding its approaches to design, technology, and engineering. The automaker learned from its first effort, examining what worked, what didn’t, and gathering feedback from Air drivers to inform its path with Gravity.
The more Lucid showed us about the Gravity, the less it seemed like the Air. There is a clear aesthetic relation, yet the Gravity grows to accommodate up to seven passengers and their things. In the cabin, Lucid again uses colors that pay tribute to its California roots while integrating tougher-wearing materials. How the digital displays are arranged looks familiar, but that hardware is new; the 34-inch dashboard display is now a single uninterrupted touchscreen, while the panel below is horizontally oriented.
Although the Gravity platform uses parts modified from the Air, it’s new and intended for SUV duty. Like the Air, the Gravity’s dual-motor powertrain is delightfully strong—828 hp and 909 lb-ft—but geared for better low-end torque response in situations like towing and off-roading. Somewhat ironically, the Air didn't have air suspension, which the Gravity does: Standard single-chamber air springs, or triple-chamber units coupled with rear-wheel steering in the Dynamic Handling package. Aside from having 22 modules like the Air, the Gravity battery pack has its own arrangement and chemistry. The approximately 120 kWh it contains provides an estimated 450 miles of range, which would make the Gravity the longest-range EV SUV.
Defying Gravity
Regardless of variation, to drive the Air is to be impressed. Its superlative capabilities of performance, luxury, and efficiency set a high bar for the Gravity. Our brief drive in a prototype left us thinking that if the production Gravity is still further improved, it’ll be quite a machine.
Through the mountains and along the Pacific coast north of Los Angeles, the second Lucid showed its own evolved character relative to the first. Like in the Air, a sensation of refinement and composure pervades, but the Gravity has a distinctly SUV feel. The air springs enable a breadth of capability, lowering to improve aerodynamics or raising to increase ground clearance. On the Dynamic Handling-equipped Gravity reviewed here, spring rates can become softer than the standard Air or firmer than the track-tuned Air Sapphire. Even on large staggered 22 and 23-inch wheels, it delivered a ride quality becoming of the Gravity’s sport-meets-luxury aims.
Although likely heavier than the Air, the Gravity moves with assured athleticism. Full power leaves little doubt it’ll deliver on Lucid’s 3.4-second 0-60 mph estimate, yet how the pedal is tuned also allows for easy, unhurried acceleration. Traction control derived from the Sapphire’s 1,000-hertz system lets the Gravity dig into pavement and promises grip on loose surfaces when the new Terrain mode is engaged. Lifting off the pedal, strong regenerative braking adeptly decelerates the SUV whether the pace is relaxed or spirited. When the friction brakes are necessary, pedal feedback is slightly vague, although less so than in the Air.
Unlike legacy automakers navigating their EV transition, engines have never been a factor at Lucid. That shows in the Gravity’s super-short hood and nearly nonexistent dash-to-axle distance. This cab-forward layout provides a clear view ahead (aided by an Air-like canopy windshield) and notably impacts the handling impression. With our feet located almost directly above the front axle, placing the Gravity on the road was incredibly intuitive. Lucid tuned the quick-ratio steering for seamless interaction between the front and rear axles; notably, individual actuators allow each rear wheel to turn separately, an advancement only recently trickling into high-performance stuff (the Ferrari 812 Competizione comes to mind). Weighting of the squared steering wheel allows for direct, confident motions.
A Distinctly Lucid Feel
Sequels always arrive with great expectations, and the Gravity seems to continue the Air’s dynamic excellence. From one model to the next, Lucid is beginning to define its own unique feel. But the SUV’s challenge is even greater as it enters a packed segment—this newcomer faces time-tested favorites and convention-bending upstarts with gasoline and electric propulsion. Before our drive, Lucid showed us diagrams indicating the packaging efficiency it worked into the Gravity’s cabin. We’ll need more time to get adjusted to know if it’s actually as spacious in practice as it is on paper, but it seems comparable to other SUVs of this type. Furthermore, tech like a next-generation infotainment interface (with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) and augmented reality head-up display weren’t finished on this prototype. Clearly, there’s more to learn—trying it on the road left us eager to feel it on some dirt.
Our time with the Gravity and the team behind it left us assured that Lucid won’t be a one-and-done success. The measurement of success, at least, being the creation a compelling vehicle—time will tell how this SUV does on the market. By virtue of simply being taller, the Gravity is bound to sell better than the Air. But as it showcases emerging Lucid hallmarks of range, design, and performance, the Gravity has appeal beyond its shape, and it's not merely a taller Air. Production is underway at Lucid’s Arizona manufacturing facility, starting in $96,000 Grand Touring trim with lower priced variants to follow.
Alex's earliest memory is of a teal 1993 Ford Aspire, the car that sparked his automotive obsession. He's never driven that tiny hatchback—at six feet, 10 inches tall, he likely wouldn't fit—but has assessed hundreds of other vehicles, sharing his insights on MotorTrend as a writer and video host.
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